Wall St futures mixed amid new Middle East hostilities

U.S. stock futures hovered around both sides of the flatline on Wednesday, as investors gauged runaway enthusiasm for artificial intelligence against fresh strikes in the Gulf that darkened hopes for an imminent U.S.-Iran peace deal.

By 06:33 ET (10:33 GMT), the Dow futures contract had fallen by 182 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 futures had dipped by 7 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had gained 63 points, or 0.2%.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 eked out an all-time closing peak for the ninth straight session, its longest such streak since May 2025. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4%, notching its own record high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up marginally.

All three of the major averages have now logged all-time high closing levels for five consecutive sessions — a streak not seen since 2017.

Chip stocks underpinned much of the rally, with an index tracking these names gaining 5.9%. Since slumping to a 2026 trough in March, the PHLX Semiconductor Index has now surged by over 90%, highlighting the hopes investors have for a massive wave of investment in the infrastructure needed to power cutting-edge AI models. One of the standout performers from the session was Marvell Technology, whose shares soared after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested that the group was on its way to becoming the “next trillion-dollar company.”

On the economic calendar for the day, investors will be keeping tabs on a reading of activity in the key services sector, along with a report on private-sector payrolls for May. Earnings from Broadcom after the closing bell are also likely to be in the spotlight.

U.S. and Iran trade fresh strikes

The U.S. military said that Iranian air attacks on Kuwait, Bahrain and other targets had either been repulsed or failed, Reuters reported. The U.S. was said to have disabled an empty oil tanker attempting to break a blockade of Iranian ports.

Iranian state media said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had struck the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain in retaliation against a U.S. attack on a communications tower on Qeshm Island, the news agency said.

These developments dented hopes that the U.S. and Iran may be approaching a deal to end their more than three-month old war, even as President Donald Trump stressed that talks between Washington and Tehran are ongoing.

“[S]tocks are encountering a bit of pressure following (another) kinetic exchange between the U.S. and Iran,” analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose, underscoring worries over an energy-induced spike in inflationary pressures that could persuade central banks — including the Federal Reserve — to eventually hike interest rates. Gold prices retreated, while the U.S. dollar firmed.

Trump stressed in a podcast released on Wednesday that oil prices would retreat when the Iran conflict concludes and argued that inflation is not “very much” at the moment. He also claimed that Iran has agreed not to have a nuclear weapon, a major sticking point in negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

In individual stocks, shares of asset managers declined after Switzerland’s Partners Group limited withdrawals from an $8.6 billion private-equity fund. KKR, Blackstone, Blue Owl and Ares Management were among the fallers.

Shares of GameStop advanced, on the other hand, after the videogame retailer announced a $2 billion share buyback program.